As believers in Christ, we testify to the truth in the age of this world by being renewed in the spirit of our mind to be delivered from any darkness, and we fight against the god of this age and his blinding work to speak the truth and bring men to the knowledge and obedience of the truth.
Throughout the centuries, many crucial subjective truths in the Word of God have been buried, and many believers were deprived of the proper enjoyment and experience of Christ according to His word.
But praise the Lord, He has raised up His recovery to bring us back to the divine revelation in the word of God, and we are returning to the crucial matters in the Holy Scriptures.
In the Lord’s recovery, many truths that were buried have now been resurrected to become recovered truths, resurrected truths.
The Lord’s intention and prayer is still that we would be sanctified in the truth, that is, sanctified in the word of God, which is truth.
But who sees the deeper truths in the word of God? Who experiences the Triune God in Christ as the Spirit according to the divine revelation in God’s word?
We need to be brought back to God’s original intention in His word, and we need to fight for the truth. There’s no neutral ground when it comes to being absolute for the truth.
On one hand, we have the Triune God with His word as truth, and on the other hand, we have Satan as the liar, the father of lies, who is more active than before.
If we look around us, if we simply turn on the news, we will see how many lies are being spread; if we listen to our politicians and to the leaders we have, many of them speak non-truths.
The enemy with his authorities in the air are swarming everywhere to spread lies and keep men under his blinding work; how can we be indifferent to this?
The first item of the armour that the Body puts on for spiritual warfare is girding our loins with the truth; when we do this when truth girds our loins, our entire tripartite being is strengthened.
And this is a Body matter; the whole Body needs to be constituted with the truth, remain in the truth, and allow the truth to saturate all the members of the Body so that the Body would be strengthened.
The last weapon mentioned in the armour of the Body is the only offensive weapon, the sword of the Spirit, which Spirit is the Word of God.
The word of God is the truth, and we must use it to cut the enemy into pieces.
May we pay the price to be constituted with the truth and to allow the Lord to renew us in the spirit of our mind so that we may be delivered from darkness and from the blinding work of the enemy, and we would live the proper church life for the fulfilment of God’s purpose.
Exposing the Lie, the Darkness, and the Blinding Work of the Enemy and Remaining in the Light and Truth of God’s Word
When we testify to the truth in “the age of this world,” we are one with the victorious Christ in fighting against Satan, the devil, the father of lies, “the ruler of this world,” “the god of this age” who “has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers” (Eph. 2:2; John 8:44; 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:4).
The Lord Jesus said concerning Satan that he’s a murderer from the beginning, and he doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him; when he speaks the lie, he speaks out of his own possessions, for he speaks out of his own possession, for he’s a liar and the father of it (John 8:44).
There’s something in Satan’s fallen nature that is the source of the lie. And we cannot be neutral concerning this; we are either children of light and light itself, or we are children of the devil, having the devil as our father.
The devil’s nature is a lie and brings in death and darkness; with darkness is falsehood, the opposite of the truth.
The satanic darkness is versus the divine light, and the satanic lie is versus the divine truth (see 1 John 1:6).
John 3:20-21 says that everyone who practices evil hates the light and doesn’t come into the light, lest his works are reproved. But praise the Lord, he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works may be manifested that they are wrought in God.
Light is the source of truth; God is light, and those who are living in the way of truth gladly come to God as light.
May we fully open to the Lord, opening all the inward parts of our being to Him that He may shine as light and deal with any element of darkness in our being.
Our regenerated spirit is the lamp of Jehovah, with the Spirit as the light, and it searches all the innermost part of our being, so that we may be full of light, even become lightmen.
Once we were darkness but now we are light in the Lord. For us to love the truth is for us to love light; light shines in the darkness, and darkness can’t overcome it (John 1:5).
Our way of overcoming darkness is by remaining in the light and truth of God’s word wherever we are and with whomever we are.
The more we remain in the word of God in a living way, allowing the Lord to shine in us and on us with His divine light, darkness is expelled, and we become shining; we fight by shining.
The more we remain in the word of God and stay in the Lord’s shining, we walk in the light as God is in the light, and we have fellowship with one another.
John 8:12 says that the Lord is the light of the world, and in Matt. 5 the Lord says that we are the light of the world; His shining in us makes us light in this dark world.
May we not be afraid of the divine light; may we stand against the self’s fear of the light and pray that the Lord would shine in us and through us.
May we walk in truth, in the light, until there’s no more darkness in our being. As the divine truth is the expression of the divine light, so the satanic lie is the expression of the satanic darkness.
The “god of this age” is Satan, the deceiver, the ruler of this present age; he dominates today’s world and hunts for man’s worship by blinding the thoughts, the minds, of the unbelievers (2 Cor. 4:4).
This means that men’s understanding is veiled; the understanding of the mind, the thoughts of the unbelievers, are blinded and veiled.
This is why we need to pray to bind the blinding work of the god of this age when we’re preaching the gospel, so that the light of the gospel would break through and shine in those who hear.
The whole world lies in the evil one (1 John 5:19); the entire satanic world system and the people of the world, the fallen human race, are lying passively under the usurping and manipulating hand of Satan, the evil one.
He is pernicious, harmfully evil, and he influences others to be evil, and in him, the whole world lies.
This evil system, the kingdom of darkness, was judged when its ruler, Satan, was cast out by the Lord’s crucifixion in the flesh (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11).
Praise the Lord, Christ judged Satan on the cross, cast him out, and we as the continuation and duplication of Christ, the church, execute the judgement of Christ upon the enemy!
The church is a channel of applying the victory of Christ over the enemy.
May we remain in the light and truth of God’s word and walk in the light, allowing the Lord to expose and eliminate any darkness in our being, and may we shine as luminaries in this world, holding forth the word of life!
Lord Jesus, we fully our being to You: shine in us and deal with any element of darkness in our being. May the Spirit with our spirit shine as the lamp of Jehovah in all the inward parts of our being to bring our whole being in the light. Search us, Lord, and know our innermost parts; dispel and remove any darkness in our being and deliver us from the usurpation of the god of this age. Shine in us until all darkness is removed, and keep us walking in the light and truth of Your word. We want to walk in the light even as You are in the light so that we may have fellowship with God and with one another. Amen, Lord Jesus, deliver us from any darkness and keep us in the light to be the light of this world, holding forth the word of life as we shine as luminaries in this dark age today!
We Testify to the Truth by Not being Fashioned according to this Age but being Renewed in our Mind for the Church Life
The world in Eph. 2:22 refers to the satanic system, the cosmos, which is composed of many ages; the age we are in is the present part of this world, the modern appearance of the system of Satan.
Satan has systematized the whole world to make it his system to usurp and occupy people, keeping them away from God and His purpose.
The present evil age, the practical world life, is in opposition to and substitute of the church life.
The Greek word for world, cosmos, denotes Satan’s organisation, his system; he has systematized every person and every item of human life.
Each age has its modern fashion; the word “modern” is equivalent to the Greek word for “age”; for us not to be conformed to this age is for us not to be modernized.
Satan is especially after the young generation to usurp them and occupy them, usurping their minds and blinding them, rendering them useless and with no interest for the purpose of God.
If we want to testify to the truth in the present age, we must obey Paul’s command in Rom. 12:2; the mind is the battlefield in every living human being.
Are we fashioned according to the modern appearance of this world?
Do we want to be like those around us, wearing what they wear, going to the things they go to, doing what they do, and watching what they watch? Do we love certain aspects of the world?
Are we passively being shaped and fashioned by the spirit of this age? Or do we come to the word of God in a prayerful and living way to be transformed by the renewing of the mind?
Many today spend hours and hours online, passively watching things, assimilating and absorbing all kinds of things that they watch and read.
We should not be assimilated by the world to the extent that we who have been separated from the world unto God have the same image as this age; this is a warning for us.
If we have the same image as the world, if we’re worldly and modern according to the appearance of the world today, we may be genuine believers, but we are useless for the Lord.
We need to be renewed in the spirit of our mind, allowing the mingled spirit to spread into our mind, thus becoming the spirit of the mind and causing our mind, emotion, and will to be renewed by a new element being wrought into our inner being (Eph. 4:23; 1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 12:2).
There’s a fierce battle for our mind – the Lord wants us to no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the vanity of the mind, while Satan wants to blind our thoughts and render us useless for God’s purpose.
May we choose to be transformed by the renewing of the mind so that we may arrive at maturity in our lifetime.
We do have to live in this age and interact with it outwardly, but we refuse to be conformed to it – we will not be governed by the thoughts.
We need to realize that the world opposes the church – the world is usurping us to render us useless to the Lord for His purpose, and it wears out our love for the Lord and our desire to enjoy Him with the saints.
Since the present age opposes the church life, we cannot follow this age and be fashioned according to it and still truly experience the Body life.
May we not adopt the modern fashions of the world but rather, be open to the Lord to have His organic element wrought into our being to produce a metabolic change inwardly so that we may be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
As we are renewed in our mind by remaining in the word of God in a living way, we are metabolically changed in our soul.
For us to practice the church life, we need to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. We need to bring this before the Lord and tell Him,
Lord Jesus, we refuse to be fashioned according to this age and we choose to be transformed by the renewing of the mind for the church life! May the mingled spirit spread into our mind and become the spirit of the mind to renew our mind. Spread in us, Lord, and renew our mind to transform us inwardly with Your very element. Save us from being assimilated by the world to the extent that we have the same image as this age. Oh Lord, save us and save all the saints, especially the younger ones, from being fashioned, shaped, according to the present age. We stand against the enemy and his usurping work; we bind the blinding work of the enemy, and we release all the saints into the enjoyment and experience of Christ! Amen, Lord, we want to testify to the truth in the present age by being transformed through the renewing of our mind!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Romans, msg. 25 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing the Truth, being Absolute for the Truth, and Proclaiming the Truth in this Present Evil Age (2021 Memorial Day Weekend Conference), week 1, Knowing the Truth, Being Absolute for the Truth and for Upholding the Absoluteness of the Truth, and Testifying to the Truth in the Present Age of the World.
- Hymns on this topic:
– And do not be fashioned according to this age, / But be transformed by the renewing of the mind / And do not be fashioned according to this age, / But be transformed by the renewing of the mind. (Scripture song)
– Lord, transform us to Thine image / In emotion, mind, and will; / Saturate us with Thy Spirit, / All our being wholly fill. / God hath us regenerated / In our spirit with His life; / But He must transform us further- / In our soul by His own life. (Hymns #750)
– ’Tis by this inner life-anointing / I in fellowship may move; / In God, the light of truth, I’m walking, / And the love of grace I prove. (Hymns #266)
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